tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8254272216866737058.post1542584152188347137..comments2017-12-07T18:35:43.758-07:00Comments on Καθολικός διάκονος: Bl. Louis and Marie Martin, pray for usDeacon Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01385969740195992108noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8254272216866737058.post-26281456697535643422009-05-05T20:55:00.000-06:002009-05-05T20:55:00.000-06:00Dear Deacon Scott,Thank you for writing about Loui...Dear Deacon Scott,<br><br>Thank you for writing about Louis and Zelie Martin. I should like to add that they were beatified, not canonized, in October 2008 in Lisieux. For more about them, please see http://www.thereseoflisieux.org/their-lives/<br><br>At this page<br><br>http://www.thereseoflisieux.org/their-pastoral-significance/<br><br>click on Fr. Antonio Sicari&#39;s article about them, which contains a sensitive treatment of the significance of the unusual first months of their marriage. with all good wishes,<br><br>MaureenMaureenhttp://thereseoflisieux.orgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8254272216866737058.post-87404499399748559022008-08-20T08:40:00.000-06:002008-08-20T08:40:00.000-06:00Dear Marie:I understand your concern. It is certai...Dear Marie:<br><br>I understand your concern. It is certainly a valid one. I do not see your comment as offensive in the least, but as an opportunity for needed clarification. So, I appreciate it. I will keep your group in my prayers.<br><br>It is good for me to have to clarify and to be accountable. I updated the post last night in order to explain Giussani&#39;s comment about being a mother for a reason similar to the one you introduce.<br><br>Bearing wrongs patiently is one of the spiritual works of mercy. For my money, it is the most difficult one and one that I have to repent of not practicing the most! It is precisely in this the lives of so many saints can be instructive and whose intercession can help us be more like Christ.Dcn Scott Dodgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09994604395739905637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8254272216866737058.post-19264343979641109732008-08-20T08:16:00.000-06:002008-08-20T08:16:00.000-06:00Yes. Indeed, I see and concur with everything you...Yes. Indeed, I see and concur with everything you&#39;ve written. And I didn&#39;t mean to imply that you&#39;d actually made any offense or error of statement or judgment or anything like it in your post.<br><br>I&#39;m just unfortunately highly attuned to statements that, taken out of context (and that&#39;s key), could bring people to utter despair (call it an emotional reaction to words!). <br><br>I suppose it isn&#39;t fair to your context to mention it! I just always feel compelled to speak up about infertility because especially in the Church it is such a voiceless pain. You wouldn&#39;t believe the things Catholic women beat themselves up about (I&#39;m not really a woman, not really doing God&#39;s will if I don&#39;t have children, it&#39;s somehow my fault, if I could just do xyz, etc.)<br><br>Anyway, please pray for my 300-something friends in my Catholic fertility-support group! And, as you say, Bl. Louis and Marie, pray for us!Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04500724701139176293noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8254272216866737058.post-79177363344591156492008-08-20T08:12:00.000-06:002008-08-20T08:12:00.000-06:00Thanks, Marie for your good reminder. In my own de...Thanks, Marie for your good reminder. In my own defense, I don&#39;t think what I wrote was written broadly, but quite narrowly and only directed against the mistaken notion of being married and voluntarily choosing to be celibate, not for a period of time, but perpetually. This is, objectively, a confusion about Christian state-of-life. The church&#39;s teaching on this matter arises not only from canon law, but scripture. St. Paul writes to couples, <i>&quot;Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control&quot;</i> (1 Cor 7,5). <br><br>I would think infertile couples, more than most, would view as odd a married couple who are perfectly capable of having children but who <i><b>choose</b></i> to live celibate lives anyway. While celibacy for the kingdom is certainly of very great value, it is not normative to the married state. In addition to infertile couples, there are couples who after getting married have issues arise (paralysis in an accident, for instance) that make living in a celibate manner inevitable. Since this, too, is involuntary, it is does not represent any confusion or create a moral issue. <br><br>Besides, infertility is no barrier to entering into a sacramentally valid marriage and never has been. In the vast majority of cases such couples desire, really desire, to have children. Their genuine desire to have children makes those of us, who, as you so delightfully state it, can <i>&quot;achieve</i> [conception] <i>joyfully and easily&quot;</i>, grateful. Anyway, the inability to conceive represents no intention against children. Canonically it is the intention against having children, not the physical inability to conceive, that creates a problem.Dcn Scott Dodgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09994604395739905637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8254272216866737058.post-43389373754412588932008-08-20T07:38:00.000-06:002008-08-20T07:38:00.000-06:00Hi Deacon Scott,I just have to insert a few words ...Hi Deacon Scott,<br><br>I just have to insert a few words here in defense of the (roughly) 10% of Catholic couples world wide who suffer infertility. I can see that in *this couple&#39;s* case, having children was proof of their holiness (as they gave up on the celibate idea). But, caution please, on applying this or even speaking of it broadly. This could crush into the ground a couple who already has to feel &quot;slimed&quot; by many Catholics for suspicion of using birth control, when really they are going through agony to achieve what others achieve joyfully and easily.Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04500724701139176293noreply@blogger.com